Body wearable antennas, and antennas that are portable by a person, are known.
Conventional body wearable antennas only operate well in a narrow frequency band. Conventional body wearable antennas operate at frequencies from 500 MHz to 5 GHz which allows them to be physically small in construction and relatively simple to wear unobtrusively on the body. However, such high frequency bands tend to have a very limited range. Also, use of such high frequency bands tend to suffer low propagation in many situations in which body wearable antennas are used, for example operations in urban environments. Antennas designed to operate using such narrow frequency bands also tend to suffer from detuning effects, such as those caused by body movements.
Thus, there is a requirement for wideband, low frequency (i.e. below 500 MHz) body wearable antennas that alleviate the problems suffered by narrowband antennas whilst maintaining advantages of being lightweight, being able to be worn unobtrusively and comfortably on the body, and being structurally strong.
There is also a requirement, particularly in military applications, for a body wearable antenna that is relatively discrete, i.e. does not advertise the position of a user, and that does not hinder the wearer's ability to carry other equipment, for example body armour and ammunition.